A brief introduction: My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award- winning pop culture collector’s store known as “ That’s Entertainment ” in Worcester, Massachusetts. My store has been around for over twenty-nine years. It’s been an interesting combination of events and people that have brought my store to its current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life…I just want to tell you my story.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner
of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s
Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book
business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s
been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought
these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about
my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my
wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember
it.

The current cast of
characters:

Paul Howley: age 47

Mal Howley: age 48

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter,
age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE
HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part 193

We survived our first Christmas without Adam
but the dreaded anniversary of his accident was fast approaching. It seemed
like every month there was some day or event that brought so much pain to us;
Adam’s birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, and even Halloween,
brought back memories that made us miss Adam even more.

Mal suggested that instead of thinking of
January 9th as the date of Adam’s death, we could consider it the
beginning of the next chapter in his life in the presence of his Creator. We
invited the friends we had in New Hampshire who knew Adam the most and they all
confirmed that they’d come to “celebrate” this day as Adam’s first heavenly
birthday.

Mal made food for the gathering (for some
reason, almost every gathering in New Hampshire included food) and we had
angel-food cake for dessert. She set up candles in paper bags and lined them up
along the walkway. With all of the snow in the yard, it looked really nice.

When our friends arrived, we chit-chatted
for awhile and then we sat around the family room to watch a video collection I
had put together of bits and scenes from Adam’s life. It included video footage
of Adam from early childhood to a few days before his accident. We read a few
of Adam’s poems and read some verses in the Bible that referred to the
after-life that we expect. It was an emotional evening for us but it helped us
through a very tough “anniversary.”

We’ve had a gathering of friends on January
9th with us almost every year since then (I’m writing this about
twelve years later) but instead of inviting close friends and relatives who
actually knew Adam, we’ve tried to invite new friends who had never personally
known him. This gives us the opportunity to give our new friends a glimpse of
what Adam was all about. It’s not an easy night for us, but it helps.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner
of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s
Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book
business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s
been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought
these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about
my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my
wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember
it.

The current cast of
characters:

Paul Howley: age 46

Mal Howley: age 47

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter,
age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE
HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part 192

As the first Christmas
without Adam neared, we knew it was going to be hard for us all. My siblings
and my parents were all getting together for a “family Christmas” party and we
didn’t want to spoil it because we weren’t in the mood to celebrate. I made a
videotape message for them to play at the party explaining our emotions and I
know that they all understood what we were going through.

Cassandra still loved Christmas so we needed
to do something new for her. Mal and I decided that we’d try to change our
traditional Christmas celebration.We
felt that it would be too sad to celebrate in our home and we knew that we’d
still want to exchange gifts, so we booked a hotel room in nearby Concord, New
Hampshire. We were torn…we didn’t want to be alone, but we didn’t want to ruin
anyone else’s holiday. On Christmas Eve, we went shopping at a local mall. We
just walked around aimlessly just in case Cassy saw something that she’d like
to have. We planned to get up on Christmas morning, open our gifts and then
Cassy, Mal and I would go out to a movie together. Not much of a Christmas.

We got up on Christmas morning and opened
our few gifts. We sat around not saying very much to each other. It had been
nearly a year since Adam’s accident but this was the first “big” holiday
without him. It was going to be weird.

We heard a knock on our hotel room door. We
were shocked and pleasantly surprised to see several of our close friends! They
had come to visit us so we wouldn’t be alone. They sacrificed time with their
families to help us through this difficult day. We decided not to go to a
movie, opting instead to go out to lunch together. Cassandra insisted that she
wanted to be alone and we reluctantly agreed to let her stay in the hotel room.

As I began writing this part of my “story”
(about twelve years later) I wanted to mention our friends by name but when I
contacted them all to confirm that they were the friends that spent that
Christmas day with us, none of them even remembered being there. My memory is
foggy about that day. I’ve decided that it probably doesn’t really matter
exactly who was there with us. Whoever it was exhibited a kind of unselfish,
caring love that helped us immensely. Their sacrifice was a true example of
friendship that still affects me over a decade later.

Friday, August 2, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner
of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s
Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book
business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s
been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought
these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about
my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my
wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember
it.

The current cast of
characters:

Paul Howley: age 46

Mal Howley: age 47

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter,
age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE
HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part 191

I agreed to participate in the “One Voice”
Christmas program because my daughter thought it would be fun to do this
together. She can sing and I can’t, but I thought I could conceal my limited
ability to sing by blending in with the crowd. Now I’ve been told that the
program will be a musical and performance production…costumes, dancing and
singing. Cassandra can dance and I can’t dance at all. This was not shaping up
to be fun at all for me.

The director gave us each music books and
CDs of the music including the harmonies that we’d each be singing. This made
it very easy to practice our musical parts at home or while we were driving in
the car. Although I couldn’t really read the music, it didn’t take me too long
to figure it out. During the actual practice sessions, I found that sitting
between two of the most talented singers (Scott Goddard and Jake Downing) made
it much easier for me to stay in tune. These two guys also made the process a more
enjoyable because they liked to goof around a bit. In fact, almost all of the
people in this singing group were fun to be around. While everyone was serious
about making this the best production they could make it, we all seemed to
enjoy the process of putting it all together. It was a big commitment of time
and energy. This musical gave me the opportunity to get to know several people
who turned out to be fun and interesting.

Most of the parts I was going to be in were
large group scenes consisting of people walking around singing Christmas songs
wearing winter or holiday clothing. I pleaded with the director and the costume
coordinator to let me just wear my normal clothes…blue jeans, a t-shirt, a
leather jacket and my sneakers. In the spirit of cooperation, I agreed to wear
a scarf.

During a rehearsal one night, the director
was assigning people to play different parts in the show. My daughter,
Cassandra was asked to play Mary in the Nativity scene. I was assigned to play
Joseph. I was glad to play that part because it gave me the chance to interact
with Cassandra on-stage and there were no actual “lines” for me to remember.
Cassy would sing the solo part and I’d just join in when the rest of the
singers started their parts.I’d also
wear a costume.

We practiced for several weeks and then, in
early December, we performed this Christmas program for an audience of over
eight-hundred people on each of the two nights. I had a great time during the
whole process but the “spotlight” is not for me. I’ll leave this to the actors.

Here’s a somewhat grainy video recording of
the song that Cassandra and I were in together.

Monday, June 3, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner
of the Eisner Award winning pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s
Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have called me the “luckiest man in the comic book
business.” (I’m not) My stores have been around for over thirty years and it’s
been a long and interesting combination of events and people that have brought
these stores to this current place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about
my store or my life. I just want to tell you my story. In many instances, my
wife remembers things a little differently, but this is the truth as I remember
it.

The current cast of
characters:

Paul Howley: age 46

Mal Howley: age 47

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter,
age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE
HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part 190

While the United States was still in shock
after the terrorist attack in September, we were all trying to go about our
“normal” lives. Little kids played, students went to school and adults went to
work.

Cassandra was now in her senior year of high
school and she was involved in almost every activity that the school offered.
She competed in basketball, volleyball, softball, and cheerleading. She was on
the worship team and sang in the school’s choral group. She also acted in the
school musical each year. She came to me one day and suggested that it might be
fun if the two of us performed together in the upcoming Christmas musical program
put on by the multi-church choir known as “One Voice.” I thought she was crazy
for trying to take on another project but when my seventeen year-old daughter
offers to do something with me, her old father, I guess I should try it.

We had attended the One Voice Christmas
programs for the past few years and we enjoyed them. The shows consisted of
twenty or thirty men and women from several different churches. They would
stand on stage risers and would start off singing secular songs of the
Christmas season and eventually sing more songs emphasizing the spiritual side
of Christmas. The shows were always very professionally done.

I knew I wasn’t a good singer but I thought
I could fake my way through it and blend in with the other, more talented singers.
When we arrived at the first meeting I was relieved to see several people I
already knew including Scott Goddard and Jake Downing, both of whom were very
talented singers and musicians. I sat with them.

As the director began describing the upcoming
Christmas program, I didn’t like what I was hearing. The program was now going
to be a full-fledged dramatic musical including costumes and DANCING! This is
not what I agreed to do! I wanted to quit but my daughter encouraged me to try
it. I knew this was going to make me miserable but I told her I’d stick around
as long as I could stand it.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning
pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts
and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have
called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores
have been around for over thirty years and it’s been a long and interesting
combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current
place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just
want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little
differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

The current cast of characters:

Paul Howley: age 46

Mal Howley: age 47

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part
189

On September 11,
2001, my wife was just returning from a walk with some friends when she told me
to put on the television because she heard that an airplane had crashed into
the World Trade Center. I could barely believe what I was watching.

When the second
airplane hit the World Trade Center it became apparent that this was a planned
attack. The news media began reporting bits and pieces of information as the
information became available. Much of the information was speculation and
inaccurate.

As soon as we
learned that one of the airplanes had come from Boston we became worried about
the safety of Adam’s close friends Meridith and Phil who were still living in
Boston. There were reports of airplanes circling the area and no one really
knew if these planes were still under the control of the pilots. I called
Meridith and urged her to get out of the city and she made arrangements to get
back to her family home in Groton, Massachusetts.I tried to call Phil but he didn’t answer.

When I saw the news
about the plane crashing into the Pentagon, I worried about my Dad’s safety
because he was working in Rockville, Maryland, very close to the Pentagon at
that time. He was doing some engineering consultant work for Direct TV and
there were televisions in almost every office so the news of the plane crashing
into the Pentagon travelled through the building very quickly. From an office
window he could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon. The phone lines were
all tied up so it took about an hour before he could assure us all that he was
safe.

My cousin Steve, who owns a Boston-area comic
book-collectible store similar to mine, called me dozens of times during the
day to update me on what was happening in the Boston area. It was clear that
this was a terrorist attack and we were all uncertain if this was all that the
terrorists had planned.

It didn’t take long
before Al-Queda claimed responsibility for this attack. I remembered that
Al-Queda has attempted to destroy the World Trade Center buildings back in the
early 1990s but that’s all I really knew about them. Watching “The Today Show”
each morning over the next few weeks revealed more information about the 19 Saudi
Arabian murderous savages who had hijacked the three airplanes, killing nearly
3000 innocent people. These radical Muslim extremists had been disciples of
Osama Bin Laden and been taught to hate the United States citizens. It all
seemed so strange to me. Why would these maniacs want to kill innocent people?

Over the next month
or so, I kept waiting to see what action our government would take to punish
this terrorist group. President Bush promised to hold them responsible but
nothing seemed to be happening. Both political major parties seemed united in
their desire for justice and there was a lot of political posturing and
flag-waving. It wouldn’t be long before the Democrats would begin to “bash” the
President.

Friday, January 18, 2013

My name is Paul Howley, owner of the Eisner Award winning
pop culture collector’s store known as “That’s Entertainment” in Worcester, Massachusetts
and a second store in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts. Some people have
called me the “luckiest man in the comic book business.” (I’m not) My stores
have been around for over thirty years and it’s been a long and interesting
combination of events and people that have brought these stores to this current
place. It is not my intent to boast or brag about my store or my life. I just
want to tell you my story. In many instances, my wife remembers things a little
differently, but this is the truth as I remember it.

The current cast of characters:

Paul Howley: age 46

Mal Howley: age 47

Adam Howley: my son, age 21

Cassy Howley: my daughter, age 17

MY LIFE WITH COMIC BOOKS: THE HISTORY OF A COMIC SHOP-Part
188

As the summer of
2001 ended, many of our friends helped us get our cottage more livable by
ripping off old wallpaper, tearing up rugs and lots of general cleaning. The
elderly man who owned it before us had done some “repair” work himself but it
was done very poorly. He had an actual lamp fastened to the wall inside the
shower and odd burned-out electrical outlets in odd places around the house.
I’m not “handy” with tools at all so I’d need to hire carpenters, electricians,
and plumbers to fix this place up. Even though we only lived about twenty
minutes away from our cottage, we wanted it to be a pleasant place to stay. The
location was certainly beautiful with a nice view of the sandy beach from our
living room window.

Shortly after
Cassandra’s final year of high school began, Mal and I organized an important
informational meeting for Cassy’s classmates so we could give them all of the
final details about the Caribbean cruise we had been planning for the past
three years. We invited the student’s parents to come if they had any questions
or concerns. We detailed the entire class trip, explaining the various
transportation modes, the types of food and entertainment the cruise ship would
offer, the approximate amount of extra spending money the student should
consider bringing, and the various activities that would not be allowed
(drinking and gambling). We had recruited sufficient chaperones (we had many
volunteers!) but we stressed how important it would be to observe our behavior
guidelines. When our presentation was done, we asked if there were any
questions. The students had a few and several expressed their excitement about
this trip. Before we concluded, we asked the parents if they had any questions.
One Mom and Dad said they weren’t sure a trip like this would be enjoyed by
their daughter but they were going to leave it up to her to decide. Another Mom
and Dad said that they thought this trip was far too extravagant. They
explained that they never even went on family vacations because it was too
expensive. I tried to reason with them, explaining that the trip was actually
quite inexpensive and that we had fund-raising efforts that would lower the
burden for the students. They still objected. The last set of parents thought
that the money shouldn’t be spent on a class trip. They said that we should
give the money to the teachers at the school or donate it to the needy. I tried
to convince them that while I agree that those would be good things to do,
that’s not what this is about. I asked them,“Why did you wait until now to
discuss this after the class has been planning this for a full three years?”
They replied, “We never thought this would actually happen. Other classes had
big plans before and they never came together.”

“Arrrggghhh! Are
you kidding me?!” That’s what I wanted to say…but I didn’t.